Amazing Benefits Of Reading Short Stories And Fairy Tales

Reading stories and fairy tales play an essential role in developing kid's overall personality and building confidence. It is an age-old tradition, which is followed by next generation since the time immemorial. Indeed it was a part of most of our own childhood.

You will be surprised to know that story-telling is not only to entertain the kids but it has innumerable benefits for kids. It is a stepping stone for academic learning. Moreover, regular reading and listening can make kids better orators too. So keep an age-old tradition of reading stories fairy tales to your little ones. Let's read about some benefits of reading short stories to kids!

Enhanced imagination skills
In this digital time, visual stimulation is served up via various devices including iPad, television, Xbox and more. The little ones rarely get to cultivate their imaginations. Listening and reading tales allow kids to tap into their imaginations and they will be able to visualize in a better way.

Build strong vocabulary
Encourage your kids to read short stories and simultaneously their vocabulary will become strong as they come across numerous new words. Reading out stories to your children helps in making them acquainted with the language as well as in learning new words and phrases. This is also a great way to teach your child new words and pronunciation on a regular basis

Enhance reading skills
Reading skills of children will improve dramatically. As they listen to stories narrated by their parents, grandparents or caretakers, it will an interest of reading stories in kids, thus enhancing their reading skills.

Build a bond
Nothing is cozier than to listen to fairy tales read by our parents or grandparents. It allows the kids and parents to spend time together and helps in building a strong bond.

Improves listening skills
Listening to stories help in developing better listening skills. Few kids have a habit of memorizing their lesson without understanding the subject. And the children who listen and read stories and fairy tales, enjoy and understand what they are reading. This helps the little learners in learning their subjects faster and better.

Fun Nursery Rhymes To Act Out

Learning nursery rhyme becomes easy and fun-filled if accompanied by a set of actions. It adds a magical touch to the rhyme for little learners. Moreover, it keeps kids entertained and they can memorize their favorite rhymes.  As an introduction and to make the learning session joyful, perform some actions as your sing or recite a rhyme. The children will enjoy and sing along with you.

Some of the popular rhyme to act out:
Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Sing “Head Shoulder Knees and Toes” to learn to identify body parts. It is a fun exercise song as kids might dance and touch their body parts in a sequence while singing each word. Thus, helping the little ones to identify head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth and nose.  

If You're Happy 
Act out “If You're Happy” rhyme to help reinforce learning lyrics to the rhyme. Dance and sing to this classic children's rhyme, popularly sung all over the world. Clap the hands, stomp the feet, nod the head and more fun actions to enjoy while singing the rhyme.

Two Little Hands Go Clap Clap Clap 
“Two Little Hands Go Clap Clap” is a joyful nursery rhyme. While reciting a poem, kids can perform the actions imitating the lyrics. And little ones will enjoy learning lyrics to their favorite rhyme as they will act it out.

Chubby Cheeks
Chubby Cheeks is a joyful rhyme, popularly sung in English-speaking world. Little ones love to learn rhyme, especially action rhymes. So enjoy singing Chubby Cheeks rhyme followed by a set of  actions while singing each word. 

Jack and Jill Nursery Rhyme Origin And Meaning

“Jack and Jill" is a well-known traditional nursery rhyme. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as no. 10266. Popularly sung in English-speaking world, Jack and Jill nursery rhyme dates back to 18th century and is printed in different numbers of verses, with variations in lyrics. It is made up of quatrains and various theories have been advanced to explain the meaning of lyrics.

Origin and meaning of rhyme
The rhyme has been traditionally observed as a nonsense verse, as Jack and Jill climbed up a hill to find the water, though the water is often to be found at the bottom of hills.

“Jack and Jill” in the lyrics usually referred to a boy and a girl in England. Moreover, a comedy, titled Jack and Jill was performed at the Elizabethan court in 1567-68. The phrase was used twice by Shakespeare. First was in “A Midsummer Night;s Dream”, in which a line as “Jack shall have Jill; Nought shall go ill” is used. The second time, the phrase as “Our wooing doth not end like an old play; Jack hath not Jill” was used in “Love's Labour's Lost”.

Till 18th century, Jack was commonly used in English-language rhymes and represented  an archetypal Everyman hero. While Jill was indicated as a young girl or a sweetheart by the end of the Middle Ages.

However, the wood engraving that contains the first recorded version of the nursery rhyme showed that two boys and not a girl and a boy. Moreover, the word “Gill” was used instead of “Jill”. This earliest printed version of the rhyme particularly comes from a reprint of John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody, which is believed to first published in London in the year 1765. 

Baa Baa Black Sheep Origin and Meaning

“Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”, is one of the well-known traditional nursery rhymes. It is a single stanza rhyme, thus making it for kids to memorize easily. The earliest surviving version of the poem dates from 1731 and is sung in a French melody Ah! vous dirai-je, maman. Several theories are associated with the origin of this rhyme. One of the theories advanced to explain the meaning of a song is that it is a  resentment at Medical English taxes on wool.

Origin and meaning
Several theories have been explained to the meaning of “Baa Baa Black Sheep” rhyme. But these theories doesn't have any corroborating evidence. Katherine Elwes Thomas believes and has suggested in The Real Personaged of Mother Goose (1930) that it is a complaint against the heavy taxation on wool, which was levied till fifteenth century.

One of the theories includes that it is a slave trade, particularly in the southern United States. Even this theory has no supporting historical evidence.

Original version
“Baa, Baa Black Sheep” was first printed in Tommy Thum's Pretty Song Book with the lyrics as follows :
Bah, Bah, a black Sheep,
Have you any Wool?
Yes merry I Have,
Three Bags full,
One for my Master,
One for my Dame,
One for the Little Boy
That lives down the lane.

Popular Learning Nursery Rhymes For Kids

Let's sing and enjoy a popular collection of learning nursery rhymes to alphabet, numbers, body parts and more. Various kids songs help the little learners to learn basic preschools lessons in a fun way.

Develop early literacy skills of kids with nursery rhymes! Learning through singing rhymes is fun that will keep the kids entertained while they learn. So all our cute tiny tots and kids, enjoy you preschool session that is full of joy, happiness and entertainment.

One Two Buckle My Shoe 
One Two Buckle My Shoe is one of the popular counting-out rhymes among the children. This fun rhyme is sometimes accompanied by a set of actions and kids can learn numbers from 1 to 20 in a most entertaining way while singing the song.

Old Mac Donald Had a Farm
Old Mac Donald Had a Farm is a popular rhyme among kids which help them to learn the names of different animals including cat, dog, cow, sheep and more. Further, they learn to identify the sound that each animal make. So introduce your little ones to the world of animals with Old Mac Donald Had a Farm, a song dedicated to the farm animals.

Alphabet Song or ABC song
Looking for a way to teach your kid the ABC's? Alphabet Song also popularly known as ABC song is a well-known nursery rhyme, sung to teach letters from A to Z in a fun way. Add some melody to your voice and sing ABC song along with the kids to introduce ABC's in a musical way.

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Teaching the names of body parts is fun now! Sing along to Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes rhyme video to help the little ones learn names and identify body parts. It a joyful poem for preschoolers and children and they enjoy dancing while singing the rhyme and touch their body parts as per the words in lyrics.

Number Song
Learning numbers is fun with number song! If teaching involves some fun activities, kids will definitely enjoy their learning their lesson. So instead of simply writing on note-books, sing the number song and help children and preschoolers to learn to count from 1 to 10. 

Tongue Twisters For Kids

Tongue Twisters are a complex phrases that give humorous results when mispronounced. These are great source of amusement and laughter when a speaker gets confused and does recite phrase properly and make mistakes.

For kids, tongue twister is an excellent way to enhance pronunciation and fluency. Moreover, reciting tongue twisters  also improves accent by using alliteration, which is the repetition of one sound. Thus, it help the children to sound clear while speaking. And if kids practices the tongue twisters and are able to master them, they will definitely become a confident and good speaker.

There are different types of tongue twisters. Some these are based in quick alternation between similar but distinct phonemes, combining two different alternation patterns so that it is difficult to articulate. Few tongue twisters are a blend of rhyme and alliteration. It uses two sequences of sounds so it requires repositioning of tongue between syllables and then the same sounds are repeated in a different sequence. And some of tongue twisters are the short phrases that become tongue twisters when said rapidly.

Some of the popular tongue twisters for kids includes “A Lame Tame Crane”, “Light A Night Light”, “I Thought A Thought”, “One Doctor Doctors Another Doctor”, “She Sells Seashells”, “Peter Piper”, “Need Not Your Needles”, “Silly Sally”, “Twister A Twisting” and lots more. The series of words in the phrase are designed so well and smartly that it is really challenging to articulate them properly. So are ready to take up the challenge and have some fun!

Tongue twisters not only create an amusement value but also help the kids to be a better speaker. So don't miss to introduce your kids to the fun-filled world of tongue twister.

What Can Children Learn From Rhymes

Nursery rhymes are a great source of learning when it comes to kids and preschoolers. Through these songs, kids can learn about different preschool lessons and help them develop early literacy skills. So let's read about what young children can learn from rhymes!

Letters, Spelling and phonics
When it come to letters, the most popular rhyme is Alphabet song, also popularly known as ABC song. The song makes easier for young minds to memorize their ABC's in a musical way which is often difficult for preschoolers to learn. To teach vowels to the little ones, Apples and Bananas is the best song. Apart from these, there are different versions of alphabet nursery rhymes to teach letters to kids.

Body Parts
Studies have shown teaching kids to identify their body parts boosts their self-confidence. Most of the rhymes dedicated to body parts incorporate actions and movements and thus making these songs fun to sing. So enjoy dancing to the melodious tunes of Hokey Cokey, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Chubby Cheeks, Thumbkin, If You're Happy and Your Know It and learn to identify body parts in an entertaining way.

Numbers and counting
Looking for an easy and entertaining way to teach numbers and counting to your kids? Don't worry there are many songs and rhymes that are dedicated to numbers. Sing the numbers and you will be surprised to see that children are much more able to memorize the numbers. A repertoire of songs involve counting and numbers such as Five Little Monkeys, One Two Three Four Five, One Two Buckle My Shoe, Five Little Ducks, Ten Little Indians, Ten Green Bottles, Five Speckled Frogs, The Ants Go Marching and lots more.

Learning can be really fun with nursery rhymes! So encourage young children to sing rhymes along with you. Moreover, it can be an important step in creating a joy of learning in them.